www.mwatana.org May 15, 2018 Woes of Arabia Felix The Human Rights Situation in Yemen in 2017 A photo for a child after an airstrike conducted by the Saudi and Emarati- led coalition on August 25th, 2017 in Attan, Sana’a. Photo credit: Mohammed Al Mekhlafi, August 2017 Contents Background .................................................................................................................................... 7 Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................... 15 Recommendations ....................................................................................................................... 23 The Report Methodology ............................................................................................................ 31 Chapter One: The Situation in Yemen under the international Humanitarian law and the international Mechanisms ......................................................................................... 33 - Section One: The Situation of the Yemeni conflict in the Context of International Humanitarian Law .................................................................................... 34 - Section Two: Yemen in the UN Security Council ........................................................ 36 - Section Three: Yemen in Human Rights Council and the Establishment of International Inquiry Mechanism ................................................................................... 38 - Section Four: UN Secretary General’s List of Shame .............................................. 40 Chapter Two: Most Significant Patterns of Human Rights Violations in Yemen 42 - Section One: Starvation as War Tactic and Denying Access to Humanitarian Aid ........................................................................................................................................... 43 - Section Two: Aerial Attacks .............................................................................................. 48 - Section Three: Indiscriminate Ground Attacks .......................................................... 53 - Section Four: Civilian Casualties of Land Mines ........................................................ 61 - Section Five: Enforced disappearance ......................................................................... 66 - Section Six: Arbitrary Detention ..................................................................................... 71 - Section Seven: Torture ...................................................................................................... 75 - Section Eight: Violations against the Baha'i Minority ............................................... 80 - Section Nine: Violations against the Press and Journalists ................................... 82 - Section Ten: Recruitment of Child Soldiers ................................................................ 85 - Section Eleven: Attack on Hospitals and medical teams ........................................ 88 - Section Twelve: Attacking and Occupying Schools ................................................... 92 - Section Thirteen: Drone Attacks and U.S. Ground Operations ............................... 96 - Section Fourteen: The Sana’a Events ........................................................................... 102 Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................... 108 Background The devastating conflict in Yemen enters its fourth year with no end in sight. In 2017, this conflict cast a dark shadow over the humanitarian situation of the country, which was classified as the poorest country in the region even before the crisis. Yemen, which was once known as ‘Arabia Felix’, is now going through its most miserable times. It is torn apart between the local, regional and international parties to the conflict, whose practices are marked with recklessness and bullying. Those parties’ practices have produced the worst humanitarian disaster crushing millions of Yemenis alongside an overall volatile region, and an international scene where the interests of regimes and governments prevail over values of justice and human rights. From 2011 till now, Yemen has undergone drastic changes, which have changed the map of the players in the political scene. These changes have affected the political players’ tools, priorities, alliances, rhetoric and mechanisms of action. Political dynamics have given way to military action; and the military has taken different sides among the parties to the conflict. The armed group of Ansar Allah (the Houthis) overtook the capital city of Sana’a on 21 September 2014 while expanding to other parts of the country. Four months later, they placed President Abdurbo Mansour Hadi, the Prime Minister Khalid Mahfouz Bahah and most of the ministers are under house arrests on January 20, 2015. After nearly a month of being placed under house arrest in Sana’a, President Hadi fled to Aden on February 21, 2015. By then Ansar Allah (the Houthis) group took control of most of the northern governorates and were preparing fighters to head south towards Aden, which President Hadi announced as a “temporary capital”, especially after the departure of embassies and diplomatic missions from the capital city of Sana’a. Mwatana for Human Rights 7 Background Ansar Allah (the Houthi) group, allied with the armed forces loyal to the former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, were able to take control of the city of Aden. This coincided with the intensification of tension in the governorate of Taizz, located on the road to Aden from the north. Fighting continued on the outskirts of two southern governorates: Shabwah and Abyan. President Hadi managed to escape to the Saudi capital of Riyadh on March 25, 2015. Hours after President Hadi fled to Riyadh, warplanes of the Saudi-led Coalition of nine Arab countries, launched heavy raids against the Ansar Allah (the Houthi) group and pro- Saleh forces. The dawn of Thursday, March 26, 2015 marked the beginning of a war that has extended to all the Yemeni governorates and has not stopped until now. Humanitarian reports indicate that Yemen is witnessing what could be the world worst humanitarian crisis, in addition to human rights abuses that are in violation of the International Humanitarian Law and international human rights law; and which have been committed against civilians by all parties to the conflict. With a deteriorating health system(1), and blockade on food and medical assistance, the country has witnessed the worst outbreak of Cholera and some other epidemic diseases like diphtheria. In a statement on January 11, 2018, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick said, “the lives of Yemenis, of whom more than 22 million are in need of humanitarian assistance, depend on keeping the ports open without interruptions or delays. I therefore urge all parties to the conflict to refrain from any disruptive action which may lead to further suffering of the Yemeni people.”(2) Since August 2016, Yemenis have lived under severe conditions, especially after the stoppage of salaries by the main authorities in Sana’a and Aden. The situation has been made worse by the frequent shortages of fuel, its high prices as well as the unprecedented high exchange rates of US dollar (() which led to the increase of food prices to more than double. Sana’a airport remains closed before commercial flights and Al Hudaydahseaport is not fully nor regularly operational. This has negatively affected the humanitarian situation in Yemen.(() (1) UN News: Suspected cholera cases in Yemen surpass one million https://news.un.org/en/ story/2017/12/640331-suspected-cholera-cases-yemen-surpass-one-million-reports-un-health-agency. Reliefweb website، a statement by the Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick, on (2) the vital importance of keeping Yemen’s entry points open, https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/ resources/HC%20Statement_%20Vital%20importance%20of%20keeping%20Yemen%27s%20entry%20 points%20open_11%20January%202018%20EN%20FINAL.pdf (3) The exchange rate of the US Dollar has reached 530 YR. At the time of writing this report the exchange rate fluctuates between 500 and 480YR. Before the outbreak of the war, the exchange rate was 221 YR. (4) UN News: UN: Food supplies that began arriving in Yemen are insufficient to prevent a disaster https:// news.un.org/ar/story/2017/11/374571. Annual Report 2017 8 Background One of the reasons for this catastrophic humanitarian crisis is the stagnation that prevailed over the political file where no progress was made at all. Ismael Ould Cheikh Ahmad, the former UN Special Envoy to Yemen, has made many visits to the states of the region, the capitals of influential countries, and Yemen. He had met the parties to the conflict in Sana’a and Aden, but his efforts did not yield any solutions to the crisis. On May 22, 2017, a group of protesters waited for the convoy of Ould Cheikh after arriving at Sana’a International Airport(5), and shot at his motorcade while en route to the mission’s residence. Ansar Allah (the Houthis) denied any connection to this but ended up refusing to meet with him, requesting his departure and finally preventing him from visiting Sana’a. This forced Ould Cheikh to delegate his deputy Mr. Maeen Shuraim, to meet the representatives of Ansar Allah to the negotiations(6). On October 10, 2017, during his briefing in the Security